Dear Colleagues,
To keep you informed on the UC systemwide labor negotiations with the four United Auto Workers (UAW) bargaining units, I want to share this update from Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs Michael T. Brown. It includes information on what UC has offered the units, contextualization of costs, and proposals UC has made to the union to use a third-party mediator.
The negotiations are ongoing and we will share additional information as we learn more.
I am grateful for all you are doing in support of our students and to ensure that our students are able to continue learning through this labor strike.
Sincerely,
Lori
Lori Kletzer
Campus Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor
Dear Colleagues:
After months of earnest good faith negotiations, over 50 bargaining sessions, and progress on a range of issues important to our academic employees and graduate students, union members have chosen to strike. I respect their choice and am writing to inform you of the University’s latest offers, to update you on negotiations, and to provide information on the outstanding areas of disagreement.
Our ability to attract and enroll top talent is core to UC’s teaching and research missions, which is why we aim to offer the best support we can. The part-time, professionally relevant work in which student employees engage helps recruit and support them while they earn their graduate degrees or, particularly in the case of postdocs, prepare to advance in their careers as scholars. The University is committed to achieving agreements that allow us to provide this support during their training. The current offers from the University reflect this aim.
Under our current proposals, our academic student employees would be among the highest compensated among public universities in the Association of American Universities (AAU), with compensation similar to what top private institutions offer.
Details about our offers and the Union’s requests are available below:
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Postdoctoral Scholars |
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Pay increases
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Average 8 percent increase in year one, 5 percent in year two, and 3 percent in subsequent years, in addition to annual experience-based increases. For a postdoc who is currently at Level 0, currently earning a salary of $55,632, UC’s current offer would increase their salary to $65,331 by October 1, 2023, an increase of 17.4 percent. |
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Child Care (new benefit) |
A new benefit of $2500 per year. |
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Paid Leave |
Expanded benefit that includes up to 8 weeks of paid leave for baby bonding and family care for eligible postdocs. |
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Parking & Transit (new benefit) |
In addition to maintaining annual caps on parking rates, UC will provide access to a pre-tax card or other method of paying for transit costs on a pre-tax basis within 12 months of contract ratification. |
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Academic Researchers |
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Pay increases |
A 4 percent increase in year one followed by 3 percent increases in each subsequent year for a total 16 percent pay increase over the life of the contract, in addition to existing merit increases. |
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Paid Leave |
8 weeks of fully paid leave for family care and bonding for Family Medical Leave-eligible Academic Researchers. |
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Benefits |
As with the current contract: Access to the comprehensive retirement, medical, dental, and other benefit programs generally available to other non-represented non-faculty academic employees. |
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Parking & Transit |
In addition to maintaining annual caps on parking rates, UC will provide access to a pre-tax card or other method of paying for transit costs on a pre-tax basis within 12 months of contract ratification. |
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Academic Student Employees |
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Pay increases |
Within 90 days from ratification, TAs and Associate Instructors will receive a 7 percent increase at ratification; Teaching Fellows will receive an 8.33 percent increase. Hourly-paid ASEs will receive 5-8 percent increases. Next fall, TAs and Associate Instructors will be eligible for experience-based increases. In addition, after the first year, all salaried ASEs will receive 3 percent increases annually; and hourly-paid ASEs will receive 3-5 percent increases annually. A TA with one year of teaching experience today who will have two years of teaching experience by next fall will see a total pay increase of 16.9 percent by October 1, 2023. |
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Child Care |
$1350/quarter or $2025/semester, plus $1350 for summer. This represents a 22 percent increase over the current contract. |
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Fee Remissions |
UC has proposed to cover 100% of campus fees for eligible ASEs with 25 percent or greater appointments, up from $100 per quarter and $150 per semester. This represents an increase of over $1,000 per year on certain campuses, in addition to the 100% coverage of tuition, student services fees, and health care already provided to qualified ASEs. This amounts to UC covering a total of $13,707 up to $22,248 for all tuition and fees for eligible ASEs, depending on the amount of tuition and fees assessed by the campus. |
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Health Benefits |
As with the current contract, eligible ASEs may participate in a UC-sponsored student health plan to the same degree as other eligible students at that campus. Eligible ASEs with a 25 percent or more appointment will receive full remission of the monthly premium for a UC-sponsored student health plan. |
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Parking & Transit |
UAW members who are students are able to participate in transit and parking-related services on the same basis as other employees; eight of UC’s 10 campuses offer some form of student transit subsidy. |
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Leaves |
Expanded benefit of 8 weeks of paid pregnancy disability leave (up from 6 weeks) and five weeks of paid baby bonding, personal medical, and family medical leave (up from 4 weeks). |
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Graduate Student Researchers |
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Pay Increases |
Most GSRs will see 9-10 percent increases in year one of the contract, with a 3 percent increase in each subsequent year. GSRs who are on the lowest two salary points will see a 17-26 percent increase in the first year. For example, a GSR who is currently on Step 2 with a 50% appointment will see their monthly salary increase by 17.5 percent in the first year of the contract. |
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Child Care |
$1350/quarter or $2025/semester; plus $1350 for summer. This represents a 22% increase over what campuses currently provide. |
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Fee Remissions |
UC has proposed to cover 100% of campus fees for eligible GSRs with 25 percent or greater appointments, up from $100 per quarter and $150 per semester. This represents an increase of over $1,000 per year on certain campuses, in addition to the 100% coverage of tuition, student services fees, and health care already provided to qualified GSRs. This amounts to UC covering a total of $13,707 up to $22,248 for all tuition and fees for eligible GSRs, depending on the amount of tuition and fees assessed by the campus. |
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Health Benefits |
Eligible GSRs may participate in a UC-sponsored student health plan to the same degree as other eligible students at that campus. Eligible GSRs with 25 percent or more appointments to receive full remission of monthly premium for a UC-sponsored student health plan. |
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Parking & Transit |
UAW members who are students able to participate in transit and parking-related services on the same basis as other employees; eight of UC’s 10 campuses offer some form of student transit subsidy. |
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Leaves |
Expanded benefit of 8 weeks of paid pregnancy disability leave (up from 6 weeks) and five weeks of paid baby bonding, personal medical, and family medical leave (up from 4 weeks). In addition, 12 days of paid Personal Time Off (PTO) is a new paid time off benefit for GSRs. |
Several areas separate us from the UAW’s proposal, however. The first area is a proposal by the Union to tie compensation directly to local housing costs. We are clear that housing costs are a significant challenge for many Californians. We will continue to work diligently to provide support to our students in this area through below-market housing programs and other means.
Tying compensation directly to housing costs, however, could have overwhelming financial impacts on the University. One review of the Union’s proposal predicts an annual unfunded obligation of at least several hundred million dollars, with inflationary pressure and no cap.
A second particularly challenging proposal is waiving out of state tuition for international and other non-resident graduate students. We are a state funded institution; taxpayer funding partially subsidizes the cost of educating California resident students. That subsidy does not exist for non-residents. We have a range of ways in which we support international graduate students, and we work hard to attract the best talent in the world. But if we were to provide remission of out of state supplemental tuition, non-California student employees would in effect receive a larger compensation package than California resident student employees for doing the same work. Note that for all Academic Student Employees (TAs/Readers/Tutors) and Graduate Student Researchers with a 25% appointment or greater, UC already covers $13,707 to $22,248 for tuition and fees, depending on the charges assessed by the campus.
Please note the increases in compensation under our proposal. Our current offer to the Union represents an average 7.2% increase for ASEs, and 10.5% for GSRs in wages. Specifically, UC has offered pay increases for ASEs and GSRs that range in increases from 5% to 26% (see chart above).
It is also important to note that ASEs and GSRs are limited to 50% appointments. Under UC’s current wage proposals, salaried ASEs/GSRs will have salaries ranging from $24,874 to $47,012, for 50% time. In contrast, the Union is proposing a salary range of $54,084 to $97,775 for ASEs/GSRs for 50% appointments. In other words, the University is offering salary range increases averaging 7-10%, whereas the union is requesting average increases of approximately 120% for 50% appointments.
Other areas where the University has offered additional support include enhancements to paid leaves and childcare reimbursements — key Union concerns. In addition, we have reached tentative agreements with the Union on many other important areas including work environment and health and safety matters.
We negotiated throughout this past weekend and will continue to do so. Recognizing the fundamental differences remaining, we have proposed to the UAW that the University and the Union engage with a third-party mediator as a way to move forward. We hope the Union accepts our invitation.
We hope that we will be able to come to a fair and responsible resolution with the Union as soon as possible so that we can get fully back to the business of teaching and research. We will continue to update you as things progress, and please reach out if you have any questions.
I request that you make this letter available to all faculty. In addition, any who would like regular updates about these negotiations are encouraged to visit https://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/UAW.
I will continue to update you on further developments. Meanwhile, if you have any questions, please contact your local Academic Personnel or Labor Relations office.
Sincerely,
Michael T. Brown, Ph.D.
Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs
